Broken (Short Story)
by thejollydoctor
Summary: Clara demands a break, so the Doctor takes the opportunity to tell her a fairytale inspired by his adventure with her Victorian incarnation.


Clara leaned against the control panel in the Tardis and sighed. The Doctor was already setting coordinates for their next destination, but Clara wasn't sure if she was ready for another adventure just yet.

"Doctor, can we take a break? Just a small one, before our next adventure?" she asked.

"A break? Are you serious?" The Doctor walked up and looked her in the eyes to see if she was. "Why does everyone always want a break after big adventures? Breaks make you reflect on what just happened and then you end up more exhausted than before. You've got to run on adrenaline, Clara!"

"Maybe Time Lords do, but I'm a human girl in need of rest, and if you don't let me have any I'll go on strike."

"Alright, alright! Here's an old trick I learned: 'When companions want a break and you don't, tell them a story about an adventure and then they'll want to have one of their own.' So I'll tell you a story. How about that?"

"I suppose that will do. But don't be silly and cut it short!"

"I imagine it will be long enough," the Doctor said. "It's a good old-fashioned fairytale."

"A fairytale, like with a prince and princess? How is that an adventure story?"

"You'll see."

—-

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a princess. She was a fairly pretty princess, but she was too short and bossy in most peoples' opinion and had a funny nose.

One day she left the castle in search of adventure. She walked down an alley in the village and came across a pile of wooden splinters. They looked like they had once been a solid piece, and she wondered if she could put them back together. A man walked out of the house that the splinters lay in front of and the princess asked if he knew what they used to be.

"A puppet from the looks of it," he said. "I wouldn't trouble yourself with him. He's completely destroyed."

But the princess ignored him. She bent down to pick up the pieces and put them in her basket. If nobody wanted him, then they wouldn't mind her trying to fix him.

She walked back down the alley in the direction of the castle and bumped into a cloaked woman, who saw inside her basket and questioned her.

"What are you doing with those splinters? I knew that puppet when he was whole."

"What do you mean you knew him? Who was he?"

The woman refused to answer her question question and simply said 'Try to fix him if you like; it's worth a try' before walking away.

So the princess went down a path in the woods that led back to the castle. As she walked down the path the clouds darkened and the princess began to worry. It was the middle of winter, so the storm could likely turn into a blizzard.

"You shouldn't have come this way," a weak voice whispered beside her.

She looked to her side, but nothing was there.

"Hurry along before danger comes," the voice said again.

"Where are you?" she demanded.

She heard a crackling noise and looked down at her basket to see that the splinters were moving. A piece that vaguely resembled part of a face twitched, and then the same voice came from it.

"Hurry," it said.

The princess was more frightened of the puppet than the potential storm, but she hurried along nonetheless.

Back at the castle, she went up to her room and put the basket down on her bed. She looked down at the splintered face, which looked back up at her and blinked.

"Er, excuse me," she said. "I'll go get some glue."

"Don't bother, I'm broken for good," the puppet hollered as she ran down the hall.

She came back moments later with a bottle of glue and a brush.

"You're going to have to keep quiet and not fuss, you hear? I'm going to lay your pieces out and glue them together."

The puppet didn't say a word the entire time that the princess worked to find the proper places for each piece. Several times she asked the puppet where a piece should go, but his cracked face just looked at her silently. "He's no help at all," she thought. "It's almost as if he doesn't want to be fixed."

After a very long time, she managed to put him back together, but there was a small splinter left in her hand, and she couldn't figure out where it went. He was sitting upright on the edge of her bed now, staring at her with a blank expression.

"I got it wrong," she frowned. "Do you know where this goes?"

"Maybe," he said with a cracked voice.

"Oh dear, does it go in your throat? I'm not sure how to get it in there."

The puppet man shook his head.

"Oh, where does it go then?"

He ignored her and tried to stand. His legs were a bit wobbly, but when he succeeded the princess noticed he was taller than her.

"Oh my," she thought. "There weren't that many pieces were there? He used to fit inside my basket."

"If you'll excuse me," he said, "I should be going."

"But I'm not done with you yet!" She held up the splinter for him to see.

"I never asked you to help me. I should be getting home before the storm worsens."

He gestured towards the window and the princess turned to see that the sky was black and snow filled the air.

"It's a bit late for that," she observed. "Your glue hasn't dried yet; you might break apart out there."

"You cannot stop me from going."

"You're right, I can't. That's why I'm coming with you."

She grabbed a hooded cloak from a hook on her door and put it on. Basket in hand, she opened the door for him and the two walked out together. There was no getting rid of her and the puppet man knew it. She wouldn't rest until he was in one piece.

"Who are you?" she asked as they walked down the snowy path. "You're not just a puppet, but you're not an ordinary man either. So what does that make you?"

"I was a warrior once," he replied reluctantly. "I protected this kingdom from monsters with my two friends."

"And what happened to them?"

The puppet man quickened his pace and walked ahead of the princess. She realized she had been careless in asking such a personal question, but she still wasn't contented. He hadn't quite answered her question.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But you just don't make sense to me. I want to know how you became this way and how I can help you."

He stopped and turned to face her. His expression appeared slightly annoyed, but mostly hurt. His past was nothing for her to fiddle with. What mattered now was that he didn't make the same mistakes again, which seemed unlikely as long as she was following him.

"Alright, then. Answer me this: Why are you so keen on fixing me? Why is it so important to you that you'll leave your castle, the only place you've really ever known, and follow me into a storm?"

The princess stuttered and for a moment her expression matched his. She understood now.

"Because I wasn't able to help someone in the past. Someone that I loved dearly, who was cruelly taken from me."

"And you intend to redeem yourself."

"Yes. Why don't you?"

"Because that's what makes you and I different. You've only lost one person, just once, and it wasn't your fault. The queen died from an illness, didn't she? There's nothing you could've done. But I've lost so many people, whom I loved, and each time it was my fault. I let them follow me and I shouldn't have. So go home, princess. You're not safe with me."

The princess stood paralyzed with shock, watching the puppet man walk away once more.

—-

Clara stood facing the Doctor with tears in her eyes. She knew what the story was about, and what the Doctor meant by it, but she wasn't satisfied. This couldn't be the end.

"She wouldn't just leave him," she whispered.

"Of course not." The Doctor gently took her hands into his and smiled at her. "She wouldn't, and she didn't. She ran after him."

—-

"Not so fast!" the princess shouted once she'd found her voice. She caught up with him and grabbed ahold of his arm. "I know where it goes."

"Pardon?"

"The splinter. I know where it goes."

She put her hand on the left side of his chest and peeled away the piece of wood covering his heart. Carefully she placed the splinter inside. She saw that it fit perfectly and put the wood back in place.

The puppet man was surprised at first, but then it occurred to him that no one would know it better. She had lost before, and knew the hole it could cause.

The princess let go of his arm and took a step back as she noticed something was changing. The wood in his face was smoothing over and turning pale. His fingers spread apart and his joints gradually became more visible.

When the change was complete, he looked down at his hands and gasped. He was a man again.

"It's never wrong to love someone," the princess said. "Good things will always come of it. Even if you lose them someday there will be someone new to love you back, because you showed that you can care."


End file.
